Catalogue and search for your content more effectively

In this week’s story we discuss how cataloguing and searching for content within organizations can be made far more easier and effective. We’ll provide some insight into typical keyword search capabilities in most DAM available systems . Further, we’ll provide an insight into more advanced technologies now available to you.  There is a better way to catalogue and search for your content . . . 

What is a DAM, cataloguing and searching?

To the newly initiated, Digital Asset Management or DAM is a form of digital library that makes it easy to manage large volumes of content.  Those already initiated in digital marketing know they are likely to need to use DAM systems. Why? To enable you to work on multiple projects, content pieces and campaigns, whilst balancing the rest of the to-do list. The biggest of these battles lies in ingesting content and being able to retrieve items later. This is particularly important for many users who haven’t been involved in creating and managing that content.

How does the DAM help specifically?

You may depend on stakeholders actively reading Comms and finding assets correctly in your internal or internet-based systems. This is a tough ask most of the times. Or, hopefully, you already have a ‘DAM’ system. Such a system will typically help your users to search for content based on keyword searches. To do this, your content will need to be accompanied by associated metadata when uploaded into the system.

You’ll already have worked out that having a DAM (Digital Asset Management) system will save you time. The systems first came into being some 30 years ago as a technical library. They were created to help automate the ingestion of files, and save users time. Technology has since moved on, with AI and other features now heavily talked about within the industry. Searching and cataloguing technologies have advanced in the following ways:

Funnel Cataloguing:

Imagine having a solution that mirrored the Russian doll principle. As a metaphor the dolls signify the Matryoshka rule that symbolizes the concept of an object emerging from within a similar, larger object. The same idea can be applied to assets which have similarities. You create a framework/system that can help you to organize these items into groups.

This feature then enables the users to create a group of assets with broad similarities. When ingesting these assets you can then also add common metadata for them, all in the same batch. Then you can simply take smaller groups of these assets through a process adding more precise data as you team refines some of this cataloguing.

Controlled Vocabulary – Tagging:

Instead of simply depending on keywords and metadata it is now possible that when ingesting content that it is categorized using ‘nodes.’ Nodes act as menu options which you can click and tag as the content is being uploaded. However there is a key difference. The node names are specific to your organization, your content categorized using a language your many users are going to understand.

Naturally, with the nodes active and the language tailored, searches occur much more quickly. An added bonus is that it also automatically applies synonyms, ensuring searchability for users later on.

Category Tree – Faceted Searching:

This is what we refer to by nodes. We will work with you to develop a large tree of search terms. Various other terms will branch off which specifically match the language and typical searching activity of your staff. This powerful search navigation facility allows the user to narrow large sets of content quickly and easily.

Advanced search:

This type of search helps when you need to search for content using specific values for a given metadata. For example, date uploaded and content  size  this type of search that is particularly useful. It may also be useful when you need to refine your search within a large set of results.

Boolean Search:

This type of search can use ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘not’ to refine what you are looking for. The combination of keywords helps find assets more easily.

Between all five mechanisms you will now appreciate how cataloguing and searching for content can be achieved more easily. All of these mechanisms are contained in our DAM system, called iMediaflow. We refer to these technologies as ‘True-Tagging™’ and ‘True-Search™’.  You can read further about funnel cataloguing and other innovations, on our innovations page.